Rosenthal pointed out Friday that unexpected free-agent cornerback Stanford Routt will visit the Titans and Bills.
Other teams are interested, too.
Per Calvin Watkins of ESPNDallas.com, Routt’s agent says that the Cowboys, Chiefs, and Vikings have reached out.
The Raiders cut Routt on Thursday to avoid a full guarantee of $5 million in base salary for 2012. (Routt will still receive a $5 million fully guaranteed roster bonus in March.)
In the end, Routt received $15 million for one year, even though his deal was reported as having $20 million guaranteed. (Amazingly, the erroneous characterization of Routt’s guaranteed money still appears in reports that have been published since his release, even though it should be obvious that the Raiders released him now in order to avoid paying money that supposedly was “guaranteed.”)
Still, it’s a good thing for Routt. The placement of such an early trigger for the $5 million in fully guaranteed base salary gives Routt a ticket to market more than a month before the market even opened. And that’s a brilliant move, since it forced the Raiders to pay or get off the pot with more than enough time for Routt to find a new home.
If, alternatively, Routt’s base salary had been non-guaranteed, the Raiders could have kept him throughout the offseason, squeezed him to take a pay cut in late August, cut him if he refused, and put him on the street long after the money dried up and/or the depth charts were set for 2012.